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Custom Tile Shower Waterproofed with Schluter Kerdi-Board

I was called by a customer in Sun City Center, Florida which is near Tampa to give an estimate on a master bathroom tile remodel and waterproofing. They had a shower done at their old home 5 years ago up North with Schluter Kerdi and wanted the same good waterproofing in the new home down here. I set up an appointment to go measure the shower and see what they had in mind for a custom design. The owner mentioned they had an interior designer give them some ideas. At the meeting I was able to see the tile they wanted and design in the shower. The first thing I told them was that Schluter now has something called Kerdi-board. It was pretty much the Kerdi membrane already on a board. They were impressed with it and I talked about it more. We also talked about what the designer came up with. It was a Daltile 13×13 called CN90 Boulevard Beige with a vertical 16″ row of a mixed mosaic of travertine, glass & mother of pearl. This would be bordered on both sides by a honed brown “Noce” travertine pencil/dome liner. I suggested a 2×2 Almond D335 porcelain mosaic for the shower floor which they liked.

I later gave them a proposal price for the installation and materials and they eagerly approved it due to my experience with the Schluter Kerdi waterproofing, jobs we completed with it and my scheduling availability. I ordered all of the tile from my tile supplier and it was all in within a week. I scheduled the job start 2 weeks out so everything was good to start on the scheduled date. The Monday we started the first thing we do is demo with everything in the shower being ripped out. We started to remove the old metal/glass enclosure, marble threshold, shower control, shower head and ceramic fixtures. Then carefully started to remove the tile and old drywall. We were glad the tile was set on drywall since it makes the removal very easy. Drywall isn’t an acceptable tiling surface in showers any longer but there are still the builders and contractors that are not up to current codes still using it in a wet area. There was also no waterproofing on the walls let alone a vapor barrier and also no waterproofing on the shower floor pan. Miraculously there was no damage to the studs in the wall, just efflorescence on the grout, some rotted drywall and rusted corner bead on the corners.

Once everything was gutted we did some minor prep and started installing the Kerdi-board. The installation of the Kerdi-board went well and after it was all up we installed the Kerdi-band over the joints and cut small pieces for over the  washer and screws. After the walls were completed I then installed the Schluter Kerdi drain and started on packing the new pitched mud shower floor. Right after the mud was done I installed  the Kerdi on the shower floor and the Kerdi-band on the 4 sides carefully on the fresh mud. The next morning I did the tile pattern layout and then mixed up some Laticrete 317 white un-modified thinset to set the 13×13 tile with which was the same thinset I used for the Kerdi. After the 13×13 field tile was installed I used Laticrete 4XLT to set the travertine dome liner and mixed mosaic tile. I used 4XLT since it was a non-sag thinset and it was easy to install the mosaic sheets without having them slide. I wasn’t worried about using the 4XLT being modified over the Kerdi with the mosaic since the small tile joints would allow air to dry the thinset.

I enjoyed doing this install and the setting of the tile took the rest of the day. We were able to install the 13×13 field tile, 5/8″ x 12″ travertine liner, 1/2″x 1″ mixed mosaic and bullnose edge tile in 2 days. The next day I set the 2×2 mosaic shower floor and custom cut a 6″ travertine sill along the shower curb. The following day I washed down the wall prepping for grout. The homeowner selected Laticrete #17 Marble Beige sanded grout for the walls & floors since it was a perfect match for all of the tile installed. After we grouted the  tile we let the grout set up and final washed it 2 more times to make sure it was haze free and ready to turn over to the homeowner.

Contact Us if your looking for a Kerdi-board waterproofed Custom tile shower.

Enjoy the pictures from the jobs installation.

 

{ 1 comment }

Dr. DeCorlin November 23, 2011 at 5:53 pm

I have to say that this is a nice blog! It’s well balanced, informative and entertaining, and the pictures of the installation are cool.

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